Woodworker's vises used to hold pieces of wood or the like in place are well known in the art. Typically, the vises are mounted to a workbench and include a fixed jaw and a moveable outer jaw that define a pair of parallel faces or surfaces for holding the work piece. Because of their construction, these prior art vises are adapted to hold work pieces having opposing parallel sides, but generally are not well suited to be used with work pieces not having opposing parallel sides.
Additionally, during woodworking, the work pieces often are larger than can be conveniently clamped within the vise. To hold such work pieces in place, it is known to use adjustable front stops or dogs in the moveable outer jaw that are usually in the form of rectangular metal pieces slidably mounted in a vertical opening in the jaw with means for moving the dog into an upper operating position or retracted to a lower non-operating position. When a large flat work piece needs to be held, it is placed on the workbench and the dog is moved to the upper position to engage the outer edge of the work piece. The opposite edge of the work piece is held in place by being pushed against another bench dog or stop, which is a separate piece of metal or other material mounted in a vertical hole pre-drilled in the woodworker's bench.
Typically, the movement of the moveable jaw is accomplished by a relatively long screw or spindle rotatably mounted on the moveable jaw that engages a female-threaded nut or other device mounted on the fixed jaw. By turning a handle located outward of the moveable jaw, the moveable jaw can be moved back and forth relative to the fixed jaw.
Guide bars, extending parallel to the spindle, are usually included to guide the movement of the moveable jaw and also to prevent rotation of one jaw with respect to the other. When the work piece is engaged and the spindle is rotated, the guide bars maintain the jaws parallel to each other to enable hold the work piece.
One known way to avoid extensive and time consuming rotation of screws in vises is to include a rapid-acting nut. By rotating the handle, the rapid-acting nut can disengage the threaded nut from the threaded spindle, permitting the moveable jaw to freely move toward the fixed jaw. By reversing the rotation of the handle, the rapid-acting nut engages the spindle threads, permitting closing of the vise jaws and clamping action by continued motion.
Because of the construction of these rapid-acting nuts, however, dust, dirt or other debris tends to accumulate on the spindle threads, which tends to disable the rapid-acting nut. Removal of this debris can be tedious and time consuming and usually requires disassembly of the vise.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a woodworker's vise that is better adapted to be used with work pieces of different configurations.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a device that includes a moveable jaw that is adapted to pivot and move vertically to accommodate the work piece.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a rapid-acting nut assembly for a vise that reduces or eliminates the likelihood of debris accumulating on the threads of the spindle.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide such a rapid-acting nut assembly that operates by camming action.